Cruise Moab Live (2015)

[HDcruiser]

What an awesome trip report Mike! I had the same issue as you on the Escalator 2 years ago.These last pic's you posted have me stumped, i cant wait to find out what kind of FJ it is.. I do have a question, do you run a roll cage in your truck? Thanks for the trail report, what an awesome job! See you guys on the trails soon.


Sean

[Toyotadon]

Megacruiser with Aqualu body grafted on?

Jeremiah's?  Or maybe Greg's, with that paint job.

[SqWADoosh]

I don't know what it is, but it is the coolest damn thing I've ever seen! 

[BigMike]

Megacruiser

AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

Yes Sir that is a MegaCruiser! And you were also right that this is Jeremiah Profit of former Profit's Cruisers!!

Toyotadon! On your next order please mention this and we'll toss in a sweet MC aluminum bottle opener

Wow how cool it was that Jeremiah stopped by to hang out with us!

[BigMike]

Jeremiah imported it from Japan for a customer, and as a former military vehicle, the Japanese military not only removed all military accessories including busting-out special low light interior illumination bulbs, but they cut the truck (frame, body) in QUARTERS: Cut down the middle lengthwise AND from side to side!

Jeremiah has so many hours in getting it all back together, plus each of the little black stripes were all hand cut before being painted, it was epically impressive!!

I didn't really get any pics of the re-welded section... I regret this. They also shortened it by (I forgot) 10-inches or so.

Here are the twin IFS and IRS torsion bars, which would have had more space between them originally:

[BigMike]

And for the cherry on top, if you noticed from the pics above, it has a factory Toyota rear steer system that uses a hydraulic steering assembly controlled by an adjustable sensing rod. The rear steer only has about a 20% effective angle and only activates when the front tires are turned more than about 70% of steering lock. From the 70% to 100% of steering lock, the rear steers proportionately its 0% to about 20% angle. It was realllly near to watch it work. This way when your going down the road the rear is fixed, but in a slow speed maneuver, you get that reduced turning radius automatically on-demand.

Again, not the best pic, but if you look at the idler pitman arm at right, there is a small secondary pitman extension that pushes/pulls the rod that you see passing under the orange fender mount bar and over the factory body mount plate. This rod then activates a hydraulic valve way in the back for the rear steer.

[BigMike]

Oh, and by the way, how many cherry's would you like on top?

Because his wife was also driving this:

[BigMike]

THAT'S RIGHT THEY IMPORTED TWO OF EM!!

This one they are keeping! Mrs Profit said its been her daily driver for a while and she LOVES IT! Says its the most comfortable vehicle to drive around town in!!

Here comes a ton more pics!

Passenger's rear (note it's RHD)



Close up of the rear:



Left rear suspension:



Third member. Both had F&R Toyota E-Lockers:

[SqWADoosh]

That is so freaking cool. I wish I had that kind of money. 

[BigMike]

Steering box and assembly for rear steer. I don't think I took a pic of the lines but there is a bleeder mounted on top towards the back of the box:



Of course they have auto pneumatic wheels:



From the one built for the customer:

[BigMike]

Back to the wife's daily driver, here is a close up of the front suspension:



Not sure if you noticed but there are no brakes. Instead they are in-boarded at the third member, one per each half shaft. The portals may very well be 1:1, not sure, but any reduction at the hub would result in reduced brake efficiency in this arrangement:



Drive train:



Look at all that ground clearance, both of em:

[BigMike]

Both had the same Toyota Turbo Diesel engines...



Note the intercooler:

[BigMike]

The interior had so much space.



Jeremiah said you can fit a king size mattress in there and still have room around it.



Instrumentation:

[BigMike]

Very comfortable



Good idea of it's size. Marlin is 6'2"

[BigMike]

Misc exterior pics...

[BigMike]

And finally a few more of the first one because why not:









MENACING

[BigMike]

Of course we cannot forget about that realllly clean and pretty FJ40 to the right!

[BigMike]

Mannnnn that was fun! Thank you very much Jeremiah for showing off your amazing work to us all! It was truly a special treat!



Whelp, back to work!

Took down our 10x10 booth, got the Tundra and Crawler truck loaded up and my truck all packed and ready for the long drive back to California

[BigMike]

Marlin and Christine headed to the dinner while I stayed to pack up the few remaining items.

Found this MASSIVE black crow. Holy crap that thing was larger than our dog back home o_0 Almost as long as our freak'n ice chest! What are they eating, broken down Jeep owners stranded in the Utah desert??



On my way back to the main event tent I found this 40-series that I hadn't seen before:

[BigMike]

Got a sweet photo with the Slee crew



Various rigs parked outside the main event tent where dinner was being served:



Oh, that white thing? It's just a brand new 70-series Land Cruiser pickup!

Apparel sales going strong. Here is our good friend and customer Preston checking em out:

[BigMike]

Ticket sales!

Ooooo sweet Marlin Crawler brochures



Raffle items out on display:



The tires were used in a special raffle where only the event staff could participate.



Dinner is served!



Event staff getting a break. Neil Quiggly (RockDog) at left

[BigMike]

So what's cook'n?

Catering service doing a FANTASTIC job. One of the best dinners I've seen at an event -- but it certainly helps to be in a city for this.



Love all the Cruisers in the background





They even had BBQ portobello mushrooms! Got him with his eyes closed:

[BigMike]

A feast fit for a BigMike! The Mushroom burger was Most Excellent as was everything else!



Someone to the far right was yelling "Hey BigMike! Put the camera down and eat your food!" So I did

[BigMike]

Whoops skipped some more outdoor pics I had:

[BigMike]

Before the raffle started they made some announcements and recognized people, specifically attendees who were at their first Cruise Moab, their 5th, their 10th, and even all 18 of which there were a few present! It was neat to see.

They then recognized trail leaders and held a special raffle for the event crew.

[BigMike]

They then began the main raffle. For all vendors who were present, like us, they called each one up front to call the first raffle ticket of their donations.



This was a particularlly nice touch as it gave both Marlin and I a chance to get on the mic and give our appreciation for such a great event!



Me up on the mic thanking Adam for how great of a job he did as trail leader, and if that represents the entire event then big kudos to all

[BigMike]

One of the multiple smiling Marlin Crawler prize winners



And this is what I was doing most of the evening: Trying to get caught up with this thread instead of eating my dinner!

[BigMike]

The raffle was a lot of fun with the typical "Burn it!!" and hecklers shouting out over and over Always fun

Of course after any finale there are endless friends and customers to see!





This was very interesting. The name of the fellow on the below right is Don Larsen. But, this cannot be Don Larsen! We know who Don Larsen is and that is not Don Larsen! The Don Larsen we know is a close family friend and customer who we've known since the 80s.

Hahaha it was so crazy when he told me his name; I required him to pull out his license as proof--which he did!!

Even more cool is that he won one of our gift certificates for our FJ80 Low Range Crawler Gears!! Haha tooooo cool!

[BigMike]

Back at camp the guys from TorFab stopped by to say Hi with their 8cyl Cadillac powered FJ55! Wow what a bunch of cool guys!

Here is the only pic I got of their rig. Cell phn cameras don't do so well in the dark



And finally before calling it a night, Kurt, the owner of  Cruiser Outfitters, came over to say Hi. We had last seen Kurt at Marv Specter's Memorial Event 2014. We chatted for quite a while, it was really really great especially for me to really get to meet Kurt one-on-one like that. Thanks Kurt and looking forward to wheel'n with ya someday soon!

[BigMike]

Sunday morning.... Whew what an amazing event!

While Marlin and Christine checked out of the cabin, I headed back into town to grab some quick breakfast for us all.



Radom pics near town





Waiting on the other side of the Colorado River for Marlin to catch up